Martyn Brown Westminster Insider: A week from hell for Starmer and it’s about to get even | Politics | News

“Don’t you love that?” the beady-eyed senior Tory giggled at me over a glass of fresh French white wine. he laughs. “If you don’t, you don’t have a pulse.” Peter Mandelson’s arrest just two hours before our chatter in the heart of Westminster had undoubtedly fueled his cheerful assessment of contemporary British politics. But he is at least partially right.

It was just Monday and the news maelstrom was swirling wildly. This is not unusual. Personally, I blame two things: Brexit and social media. Brexit has made every political debate binary. The nuances and long, healthy debates seem to have been thrown into the Thames.

Social media has enabled everyone to have the attention span of a mosquito. Living in Appland, we navigate Prime Ministers, leaders, parties and policies at incredible speed. Tweetaholic Ms Badenoch, who has been pushing for a ban on children, says social media is for adults, not children.

Judging by some of the disgusting posts I’ve seen from adults this week, why don’t I just ban social media altogether?

There was heartbreak at the home of the Brown (this writer, not the former Prime Minister) family on Wednesday with the sad death of our family cat. There are so many tears all around. As if by cat coincidence, I ran into Downing Street’s mouse chief, Larry, yesterday morning.

Labor’s loss of the seat it has held for almost 100 years puts even more pressure on lame-duck Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Shortly after the result and before I had finished my 5am coffee break, a Labor insider texted England’s famous 1966 World Cup winning comment with a twist: “Keir thought it was over, it’s over now”.

Remember, 12 months ago this was an event that had weeks of coverage in preparation.

In 2026, it has barely moved. “A week is a long time in politics” is the famous phrase coined by Harold Wilson in the analog times of the 1960s. After this week it’s time to check my pulse.